With so many different online bingo sites to choose from, your loyalty to a bingo brand has value and as such, the sites all aim to keep you coming back to them rather than moving on to another site. All offer some form of welcome bonus or other, but what happens when you’ve made your first deposit and used the bonus offer given? What is there on offer to ensure that you stay loyal to one brand over another?
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This is where the bingo loyalty scheme comes in to play. You could liken to something like Nectar points or Club Card points from your favourite supermarket. Every time you spend money at Tesco and you are a Club Card member, you earn points and the points are converted quarterly to money that can be spent in-store. That is exactly what happens at many of the online bingo sites and other gambling sites today.
On this page we aim to answer all the questions you may have about bingo loyalty schemes, provide details of the different types of bingo loyalty and look at a variety of different schemes across the networks and software platforms currently available on the Internet.
It’s not only the new players that should be treated like bingo royalty!
*Please remember that any bonus offered may be subject to wagering so always check the terms and conditions. Additionally, a site will have rights reserved to change the T&C’s of any offer available without notification. This means that any examples used in this content may have been time-limited and are no longer valid.
What is bingo loyalty?
Bingo sites don’t just look to attract new players through their virtual doors; there is just as much emphasis, if not more, on maintaining the interest of the regular player.
We all love to join a new bingo site when it opens and check out what it has to offer but with a loyalty scheme, a brand is hoping that even if you try a new site, you’ll head back to their site because you are invested in the scheme that they have available which rewards your loyalty.
Whilst you might be treated as bingo royalty when you first register with one of the new bingo sites, what happens when the red carpet has been rolled back up? We all know that you’ll receive a hefty bingo bonus on registration and some sites will offer you bingo tickets and free spins as part of the new players’ package, you might even receive a second and third bonus on deposits but what then?
Brands need you to want to continue playing bingo at their site and if the operator doesn’t do something to maintain your interest, they know that you will be lost to another bingo site.
Whilst you might be tempted to move on when you feel the ‘royal’ treatment has ended, look beyond the deposit bonuses and take a look at the loyalty scheme because we are confident that if the site offers the right rewards, it makes sense to continue earning points at one site and rise through the loyalty ranks than be a bingo butterfly and deposit at many different brands.
Benefits of loyalty and VIP schemes
The benefits of any loyalty and VIP scheme really depends on where you are playing but the majority of them will offer you a selection, if not all, of the following type of reward:
- Loyalty points for real cash spent at their site – points can be exchanged for bonus funds or real cash and this varies from site to site.
- Cashback
- Free bingo
- Extra promotional games as you rise through the levels
- Free slot spins
- Deposit bonuses
Details of all that each individual loyalty scheme has to offer will be available on a dedicated page on the site you choose to play at.
Is a loyalty scheme the same as VIP?
There is definitely a crossover between a loyalty scheme and being a VIP at a site. This comes because as you rise through the levels of a scheme, the closer you get to receiving a true VIP status.
Some sites consider all of their players a bingo VIP from the moment they register with the brand and make their first deposit but the biggest bonuses are awarded to those that have reached the highest level in the loyalty scheme.
The more points that you earn, the higher you climb the virtual ladder, and the higher you climb, often the more points you earn for the money that you spend at the site.
Do all bingo sites have a loyalty program or VIP scheme?
Whilst we can’t say hand on heart that all bingo sites have a loyalty or VIP scheme to offer those playing bingo at their site, we can say with confidence that the majority will have some sort of scheme that allows you to earn loyalty points or rewards for you spend.
There will be a vast difference between the loyalty schemes offered between networks and software platforms but how you are reward by way of bingo bonus, free spins, and/or bingo tickets are quite similar. The differences tend to be between how the levels and their rewards are set out and what the terms and conditions, wagering requirements on bingo bonus, and points required to achieve a new status are.
How do loyalty schemes work with bingo?
As we have said, these vary between brands but what appears to be a mainstay of the loyalty schemes is that you are awarded points for the money that you spend at the site. These points have two purposes:
- Help you rise through the loyalty levels; the more points you have, the higher the level you achieve in the loyalty scheme.
- Points can be converted to bingo bonus or real cash to continue to play at the site in question.
Conversion Rates For Loyalty Points
The higher you rank in the loyalty scheme at your favourite bingo site, if they offer loyalty points as part of the rewards, the better the exchange rate will be on your points or the more points you earn for your spend.
As an example from Sun Bingo:
| Loyalty Level | £1 Cash Spend – Points Earned | |
| Opal | 8 | |
| Sapphire | 10.5 | |
| Emerald | 13 | |
| Ruby | 16 | |
| Ruby | 16 (also earn 0.5 on £1 slot spend) | |
With Sun Bingo it is worth noting that you have a choice when you exchange loyalty points. To have cash then you need 1,000 LPs for £1 but for a bingo bonus, 700 points are all you need. Any bingo bonus at this site have wagering requirements of 3x the bonus.
A further example taken from bet365 Bingo is that you would earn 6 loyalty points (LPs) for every £10 that you spend playing bingo at the site. The exchange rate at this site is 100 LPs for £1 bonus funds. It is worth noting that whilst the exchange is as bonus funds, there are no wagering requirements. Any winnings from the bonus funds you exchange at this site are awarded as real money.
Just on the above two examples you can see the difference so it is always worth doing a comparison concerning the schemes available from bingo brands. There are many different aspects to consider.
VIP Bingo Rooms
Another bonus in loyalty schemes is access to special bingo rooms. It could be that the site has a room only available to players who achieve a certain level in the VIP scheme.
An example taken from Sing Bingo is shown below:
Exclusive offers and promotions
As a VIP or member of a loyalty scheme, you may also find yourself given access to exclusive offers and promotions. Details of these can be found at the bingo site in question under their VIP scheme or loyalty program page.
It might also be that you are offered access to special bingo rooms or offered bingo tickets to exclusive games. The following example was taken from the Sundae Bingo VIP Scheme page:
| LEVEL NAME | Daily KACHING room Free Bingo Tickets | MONTHLY Bingo Tickets TO THE £10K BIG BANG GAME | Free Bingo Tickets to Ace Club Room | Free Bingo Tickets to Ace Club Diamond Room |
| Level 0 | – | – | – | – |
| Level 1 | 1 | 0 | – | – |
| Level 2 | 2 | 1 | – | – |
| Level 3 | 3 | 2 | – | – |
| Level 4 | 4 | 3 | – | – |
| Level 5 | 5 | 4 | – | – |
| Level 6 | 6 | 5 | 10 | – |
| Level 7 | 7 | 10 | 15 | – |
| Level 8 | 8 | 15 | 20 | – |
| Level 9 | 9 | 20 | 25 | – |
| Level 10 | 10 | 25 | 30 | – |
| Level 11 | 12 | 30 | 35 | 10 |
| Level 12 | 15 | 35 | 40 | 20 |
| Level 13 | 20 | 70 | 45 | 30 |
| Level 14 | 25 | 80 | 50 | 40 |
| Level 15 | 30 | 96 | 60 | 60 |
Birthday rewards
We all like to feel special on our birthday so it shouldn’t be a surprise to find that bingo sites give away a little something extra in their schemes to those that have a celebration.
It was back in 2010 when I wrote an article highlighting the rewards that she had received from a selection of different sites on my 40th birthday. You can read the full article here but a summary is shown below:
- Sky Bingo – £5 bingo bonus
- Foxy Bingo – £10 bingo bonus
- Bingo on the Box / Dream Bingo – match bonus on next deposit
- BingOn (now closed) – £5 bingo bonus
- Bingo Cafe (now closed) – £5 free
- Golden Hat Bingo (now closed) – £1 free and 250% match bonus
Special events and invitations
The special events and invitations are usually reserved for those quite high up in the loyalty levels of a bingo site, they are not usually offered to new players. However, it depends on the site in question. At Cheeky Bingo, they listed some of their recent VIP events as exclusive concerts, nights on the town, and Royal Ascot.
Smooth Bingo listed the following up for grabs if you earned a VIP invite:
- A table at the Grand National
- Cookery weekend at Lainston House
- A private box at Cirque Du Soleil
- Summer and Winter VIP Parties
- VIP-only luxury holidays
Free games
We all love the chance to play for free and you might find that free games are part of the VIP scheme available at the site that you have chosen to register with.
As an example below, Kitty Bingo offers free spins on the Daily Prize Wheel and free bingo to players who are ranked Bronze and above in their VIP scheme.
New players are only offered the rewards of a deposit bonus on transactions one, two, and three in this VIP Club but they will be earning points from the moment that they start spending real money with the site.
How do I become a bingo VIP?
Becoming a bingo VIP is usually as simple as registering with a brand; for new players, this will start you on the journey with the site and then, as long as you are spending real cash at the site in question, you will be earning loyalty points and as such, potentially increasing the rewards you can reap when enjoying the bingo games and slots there.
Are bingo loyalty schemes worth it?
In our opinion, loyalty schemes are worth it to bingo players. Whether it’s the free spins that can be awarded based on your loyalty level or free games that become available as you progress, or whether you get to play a bit longer after your bingo budget is gone because you have loyalty points to exchange, loyalty programs keep on giving.
From the new players to the regular bingo players at a site, the bonus offers that these types of scheme offer do work well in ensuring that a player wants to come back time and time again.
Which are the best bingo loyalty schemes?
This is a question that we can only answer bases on our personal opinion and there are several that we quite like for a variety of reasons. We love a bingo bonus, free spins, real money offers, loyalty points, and any other bonus being given away but for us, Tombola has it spot on with their PlayMates.
This scheme may not offer free spins of free games but when your friends play bingo and win, you get rewarded with cash and not bonus money or points.
It is up to bingo players as individuals to decide what they are looking for as rewards for their loyalty to a bingo brand.
Keeping a VIP status
When it comes to keeping your VIP status and therefore still being able to avail yourself of the free spins, bonus offers and bingo deals that a brand gives away to loyal bingo players, you have to check the individual loyalty rewards scheme.
One site might not drop your VIP level if you haven’t spent any cash from your account recently, but another might drop your VIP loyalty level and reduce your bonus because there has been a reduction in your play at their site.
Below are just a couple of examples from bingo brands that are popular amongst players and what their rules are in retaining a bonus by play at the site.
Kitty Bingo
“All Upgrades and Downgrades within the Loyalty club are subject to management’s discretion and the company reserves the right to change a player’s level with no correspondence.”
Sun Bingo
“To retain your current level, you must earn the below points as a minimum within the calendar month. If you do not earn the minimum amount of points, you will be downgraded at the end of the calendar month.”
- Opal – Entry Level
- Sapphire- minimum loyalty points required to maintain level – 2,450
- Emerald – 9,950
- Ruby – 19,950
- Diamond – 39,950
Bingo All Stars
“Loyalty level is classified, on a monthly basis, according to the volume of Jewels accumulated on a specific month.”
